“On September 11, 2001, I lost my uncle, Christopher Wodensheck. He was employed in a financial firm, in one of the Twin Towers. Chris was like a brother to me. As his mother had had it late in life, at 48, we were only two years apart.
In addition to having lived together, we went to the same school… I saw him as a model. But for him, I was like the little brother he couldn’t get rid of when he wanted to be with his friends! He was 35 when he died.
→ CHRONOLOGY. The attacks of September 11, 2001, hour by hour
For me, the 9/11 Memorial is a cemetery, because my uncle’s remains have never been found. Like other victims from that day, his remains are likely in the New York medical examiner’s office located below the memorial. On the surface, I see all the names of the victims etched into the metal panels around the waterfalls like so many tombstones.
Find some solace
To this day, Chris is one of the few people I visit on a regular basis, as I don’t go to cemeteries often. I will see his name at each commemoration of September 11, for his birthday, for Christmas …
→ READ. Opening of a museum dedicated to the September 11 attacks in New York
At first, I went there every day because I worked in the area. I ask him how he is, and I ask for his advice on life. He had five children! I don’t expect an answer, of course, but it’s a way of finding some solace, like in a traditional cemetery.
The architecture of the memorial is very successful, between its rows of oaks symbolizing resilience and its two waterfalls. These create a meditative sound, which calls for introspection. Sometimes when the sunlight catches the drizzle in a certain way, a rainbow forms. When I’m there, I don’t think of the towers collapsing or the destruction. I think of souls.
This is not a place to smile
I am not bothered by tourists visiting the memorial. Unlike them, I don’t smile at the few pictures I took there with my family. For me, it’s not a place to smile. Twenty years later, the emotion is still raw. Moreover, when I am at the Memorial, I do not speak to anyone, unless someone speaks to me. It happened with a passing British couple who asked me about Chris. I regularly see a man there – a sergeant – to whom I offer my condolences without knowing his full name.
→ GARDENS OF MEMORY (4/5). In the garden of Nyanza, “we are not there to bury people but to commemorate them”
Those who did not lose a loved one on September 11, 2001 have a different relationship instead. They don’t understand the profound change the attack has caused in our lives. This memorial helps them understand that 9/11 is not just a “National tragedy”, as it is called: this drama has affected normal people.
→ EXHIBITIONS. The tragic ramifications of September 11, 2001
Police and first responders are considered heroes, but there were also many others inside the towers, civilians who tried to help or comfort their colleagues. Chris was working over the crash zone in the North Tower. Even though he knew he wouldn’t make it, I want to believe he supported the people around him. »
Paul Remenschneider / Paul Remenschneider
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The attacks of September 11, 2011
Tuesday September 11, 2001, 19 terrorists hijack four airliners. Two are projected onto the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York, a third onto the Pentagon in Washington, DC. The fourth crashes in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. The two World Trade Center towers collapsed less than two hours later.
Opened September 11, 2011, the 9/11 Memorial commemorates the 2,977 people who were killed in the attacks in New York, Washington and Shanksville.
Their names, and those of the six victims of the February 26, 1993 attack on the World Trade Center, are carved from long metal plates surrounding two large waterfalls – the largest human-made in the United States. These espouse the imprint of the “Twin Towers”.
Nestled at the foot of the skyscrapers of southern Manhattan, the 16-acre (6.47 hectare) site also hosts a museum dedicated to 9/11.
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